


A Million Lights Above You

by RushingHeadlong



Series: Smile Prompts [1]
Category: Queen (Band), Smile (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Smile (Band) Era, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28497813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RushingHeadlong/pseuds/RushingHeadlong
Summary: Tim takes an evening while the band is in Cornwall to show Brian a little surprise.
Relationships: Brian May/Tim Staffell
Series: Smile Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087487
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	A Million Lights Above You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt for TimBri + Stargazing. Title from “Long Away”.
> 
> This is set in late March, 1969. The descriptions of what stars would have been visible from Truro at that time are taken from Google and I have no idea how accurate they are.

"Tim, please, just tell me where we're going!” Brian says with a laugh as he follows a step or two behind his boyfriend. 

Tim spins around and walks backwards so he can give Brian a wide grin as he says, “I told you, it’s a surprise!”

Brian pouts at him, and when Tim doesn’t relent he sighs and says, “But I _hate_ surprises.” Despite his words there’s still a faint smile playing around the edges of his mouth, belying his genuine good mood. 

“You can’t lie to me, May, I’ve known you nearly five years now,” Tim says. “You _love_ surprises, and I know it!”

“Sure, when we’re _home_ ,” Brian says. “But not when you’re leading me through Truro when it’s nearly dark out. Do you even know where we’re going?” 

“Of course I do!” Tim nearly trips over the curb and Brian is quick to catch him before he can twist an ankle.

“Thanks,” Tim says, patting Brian’s arm and falling into step next to him instead of continuing to walk backwards. “And as I was saying, _yes,_ I do know where we’re going. Roger gave me directions.”

Brian lets out a bark of laughter. "Oh, well then, if we're following Rog's directions we're definitely fucked."

“We are not!” Tim protests with a laugh. “Look, right up ahead. We’re nearly there!”

Brian squints through the growing darkness. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s kind of point,” Tim says. Brian looks down at him in confusion and Tim laughs again, and risks taking Brian’s hand to drag him forward. “C’mon, Brimi. You’ll see soon enough.”

He leads the way into what Brian soon realizes is a park, with walking trails disappearing off into the thick growth of trees. “If you’ve brought me here just to get handsy in public…” Brian says warningly as they start walking uphill along one of the trails. 

“I did not bring you here to get handsy, honestly,” Tim say with a slight roll of his eyes. “You’re going to love this, just trust me.”

Brian squeezes his hand slightly. “I do trust you,” he says, a little more quietly, and Tim looks up at him with a soft expression on his face. 

“I know,” he says, and Brian smiles lovingly down at him. 

The park isn’t that large, and they’ve only been walking for a few moments when they break out of the trees and into an open space at the top of the hill. There’s a few picnic tables scattered around and Tim hops up to sit on top of one, and Brian sits between his legs on the seat proper. Tim drapes his arms over his shoulders and Brian rests one of his hands over Tim’s, trapping them against his chest as he tilts his head backward to look up at Tim. 

“Hi there,” he says. There’s the faintest hint of a teasing smile playing at the edge of his mouth. “Are you _sure_ you didn’t bring me here for some ulterior motive?”

They have enough privacy that Tim doesn’t worry about leaning down to kiss Brian, and when he finally answers Brian he pulls back _just_ enough that their lips still brush together as Tim says, “Never said that there wasn’t an ulterior motive here - just that it wasn’t one likely to get us arrested for public indecency.”

Brian laughs and Tim grins as he straightens back up. He taps Brian on the chest and says, “Look up, sweetheart.” 

“I am looking up,” Brian says. 

Technically, from his position, that’s true enough. Brian still has his neck bent back so he can stare into Tim’s eyes, and Tim laughs and has to clarify, “I mean at the _sky_ , you adorable idiot.”

“Alright, alright…” Brian only has to move his neck a little, but his quiet “ _Oh_ ,” makes it obvious that he’s finally realized why Tim has dragged him out here. 

The clouds that have been obscuring the Cornwall skies for the last few days have finally disappeared, and out here in the park they’re just far enough away from the lights of civilization that the stars are shining clearly overhead. It’s a sight that they don’t often get to see in London and Tim snuggles a little closer to Brian as they both look up to study the night sky overhead. 

“I wanted to get out here early enough to try and catch your zodiacal light, but I think we’re a bit too late for that,” Tim says, a little softer than he’d been speaking before. 

“That’s alright,” Brian tells him, and even if he’s not looking at him anymore Tim can still hear the smile in his voice. “This is still well worth the walk out here.” He points out towards the tops of the trees just to their right and asks, “That’s a planet, isn’t it? The one over there, I mean?”

Tim spots what he’s pointing at almost immediately. “Think so, yeah. Should be… what, Venus is it, at this time of the year?”

“Venus or Uranus, yeah,” Brian says.

“More likely to be Venus though.”

“True,” Brian agrees with a small laugh. He leans back against Tim a little bit more and asks, “What constellations do you see? You were always better at those than I was.”

“That’s because you had to go and get interested in the difficult side of things,” Tim teases. “Hard to remember what Ursa Major looks like when you’re filling up your brain with maths and physics instead.”

“Hey! That one I can still spot!” Brian protests. He points to the sky again and says, “There’s Ursa Major and Ursa Minor is just north of it and…” He laughs and shakes his head and admits, “And that might be all I’ve got right now.”

“Well, Leo is right below Ursa Major. Just look for Regulus and you should be able to spot it. And then I think that’s Sirius, just over the trees ahead of us, though I dunno that you can see all of Canis Major from here...” 

Tim says doesn’t actually point to stars as he names them. That would require letting go of Brian, and that’s not something that he’s willing to do. But this isn’t the first time that they’ve done this, and despite Tim’s teasing he knows that Brian is spotting every star and constellation that he mentions.

There’s not actually many visible tonight that Tim can name, but that’s not the point here. As their eyes adjust to the darkness the true beauty of space becomes clear. The tiniest of distant stars becomes visible, the smear of the Andromeda galaxy takes form, and what was at first an inky blackness with only the brightest of stars recognizable slowly becomes awash in countless specks of light.

And then Brian turns away from the night sky and shifts in Tim’s embrace so he’s facing him properly now, and the happiness in his eyes is more beautiful than any stars in the heavens above them. 

“Thank you for bringing me out here,” Brian says softly. “This is… It’s incredible. Absolutely incredible.”

Brian reaches up to cup Tim’s face and as he starts to lean forward Tim can’t resist teasing, “What was that you were saying earlier about not wanting to do anything indecent?”

“Oh, shut up and let me thank you for this,” Brian says with a laugh, and Tim grins as he bends down to meet his boyfriend in a kiss. 


End file.
